From the County Fair

 

There's something about fairs and carnivals that make me really happy. I think circus themed things fit into this as well though I don't like going to the circus nearly as much. Maybe the animal cruelty thing gets me with those. But circus themed things as well as fairs and carnivals made me a little giddy. I love the colors, the sounds, the candy, the horrible food, the possibility of summer love.

What use to be called the Del Mar Fair (now the San Diego County Fair) is definitely a highlight of the year. It's a sign to my city that summer has come and it's time to celebrate. It's time to forget those bikini bodies for a day and sink your teeth into deep fried... well, deep fried just about anything. I believe I saw a krispy kreme sloppy joe advertised... yeah. It's a special place.

I don't ever find myself on many of the rides, but I still love to walk around the games, hear the calls from carnis, see young couples holding hands, older couples holding big stuffed animals that they probably spent a couple twenty dollar bills to win... I love the feeling, the carefree laughter and screaming of the people on rides.

This year the fair did not disappoint. In fact, it was better than I could have imagined. I went twice, once with a group from work and then with a good friend. Both times were awesome for their own reasons. The first time I stayed away from most of the food because I was planning on bungee jumping and didn't want anything to go wrong. I did go on the drop ride, got myself at least somewhat prepared for my jump, I watched my friends go on some others and then we hit the beer garden. I didn't drink until after my jump, and then I had a $8 bud light. Yes, it was that expensive, for a bud light. Gotta love the fair.
The first go round was longer, a more thorough time. We went on rides, they ate all the different foods between the lot of them, we drank, danced to horrid cover bands, tried to win prizes, and, oh yes, got kicked off the ferris wheel.

If you didn't know this about me yet, I'll tell you now...

I. Love. Ferris. Wheels.

And we got kicked off. Because my friends are goons. Surprisingly I'm not upset about it though, it's a good enough story to be worth all the tickets I gave away so they could come on with me (and then get me kicked off). That's what friendship is for right?

The second go round was a later adventure, my focus was definitely more food oriented, or at least dessert. We did a quick tour, saw Joan Jett for a second and then went back for more food. It was the day before the 4th so it was a little busier than I like, but I was still at the fair, and so, I was happy.

Oh yes, and during my second trip there were the animals, the cows, bunnies, goats and... there was an alligator... I'm pretty sure he's not alive and that they charge two dollars per person for a fake thing. Either that or I feel sorry for the beast. His cage gave him little room to do much else but play dead in the water. There was a cooler at the end of the short walkway in his exhibit and we wondered what could possibly be in there. At first we wanted to think it was his food, but I think it was probably just the ticketmaster's food and beer. I'm not sure that alligator actually eats anything anymore.

All in all, I did the fair well. I'll probably end up going to another one in Orange County before the summer is over, possibly alone so I can walk slowly and take more pictures. But this was was good for experience and memories.

It's been a good summer so far.

xoxo

Photo Adventure #2: The Barrett House

Monday I went on a little adventure to an abandoned house in Jamul. I have been wanting to see this house for a while now, my friend Brian told me about it months and months ago and finally, FINALLY I got it all together and scheduled a meet up.
The day started with a little scare, Lisa and I drove to the meeting spot and then, because we were early, went ahead and checked out the actual location. We went back to the meeting spot and up comes a police car. He sits a bit away from us, I can't tell if he's looking in our direction or not. The other part of our group drives up and we head to the house... wouldn't you know, right when we pull out of the gas station the police man does too! We panic a little, go past the road for the house and then turn around and double back when we realized he turned the other way.
Yay being paranoid! My fault.
After that little scare we get up to the house and it's a bit chilly. The house is obviously destroyed on the inside. I wanted to go in but I Lisa made the good point of maybe there were squatters in there... I didn't have a shank handy (though there was plenty of glass on the ground) so I hesitated. Luckily, one of the others ventured forward.
We cruised around the bottom level of what I think was the main house for a second, but the light was dim and we didn't have much to work with. Looking back I wish I had gone upstairs, I wish I had explored a little more. I get scared easily, of getting in trouble and getting hurt. I guess that means I need to go again soon, maybe with a big dude, just in case.
We spent a good amount of time outside looking at the grounds, the boarded up barn and the other house/garage/I don't really know.
I found myself sad and in awe at the same time. Sad that people felt the need to destroy this beautiful and old place, sad that people couldn't appreciate it as a memory. But kids/teens (it looked like a lot of kids had been through there at night) sometimes feel the need to destroy things, I guess an old house is better than each other? I don't really know.
I wonder why the owners haven't tried to do something with it, or if they have and it just hasn't gone anywhere. The porch/balcony on the back of the main house was gorgeous despite all the wear.
This house was gorgeous at one time, it was beautiful and loved. I hope someone find a way to love it, or the land sometime soon.
A post about lessons learned from my first two photo adventures coming soon!

xoxo

last photo via @lisakimberly11

Photo Adventure #1: Belmont Park

my two absolute favorite pictures from the day...

I'm patting myself on the back for the last one. Not for the actual picture, but the fact that I went up to this guy and asked if I could take a picture of this tattoo of his. I saw him walking by early in the day and saw these tattoos (there's one on each arm) and I thought it was just about the most awesome thing I was going to see all day. But I didn't muster the courage to ask if I could take a picture.
I saw him again later and I knew, just knew I would kick myself indefinitely if I didn't get a picture of at least one of his arms. So I walked over and asked in my nicest voice and he said yes and I putzed around with my camera so I didn't get a perfect exposure because I didn't want him to have to stand there forever (lesson learned, have correct settings in place before you ask) but I got this picture and for this, it was good enough. Stoked. High five me.

One photo adventure down, at least eleven to go!

xoxo

A North Park Date

Sundays are my only real days off and so they are usually filled with an adventure or two. This week I met up with Lisa and had lunch. We met at Rancho's in North Park and chatted over delicious mexican food. I ordered the shitake enchiladas and she had a fish taco. I don't think I'll order the same plate again, but that's because the menu is insane, so many options, and next time I'll try something different. 

After Rancho's we took a little walk around North Park checking out a store or two and adding things to my never ending purchase wish list. I felt like an addict a couple of times when I would see lovely tattoos or we would walk by a tattoo shop. The one I got my food done at was right there and I just had to ignore it and look at trinkets instead.

After browsing a couple of stores and finding some awesome wall murals, we ventured back to our cars and decided to head west to Hillcrest.

I had a bit of an ordeal with a parking meter. For some reason I was absolutely sure you have to pay the meters on a Sunday there so I was feeding it and after a while I realized it wasn't adding more time. It was under the limit so I looked into the slot and saw my quarter just resting there. I took out a bobby pin but I had little luck. I decided an hour of time was enough and ventured away. 

I found Lisa who parked elsewhere and we looked in a bookstore for a book I wanted to get for a friend and then we strolled to Urban Outfitter. I found myself an awesome rug on sale (ON SALE) and tried on some maxi dresses, but the dresses just weren't meant to be. 

I realized an hour had past (so fast) so we went back to the meter. We tried to see if it would take a quarter or two and it would not, I started to call the number on the thing but decided it wasn't worth it and went to park in the Rite Aid parking lot... for $3 an hour. When I left I saw a woman pulling into the spot behind me and I thought... well goodness, she's going to have to figure it out herself. 

We parked elsewhere, walked around and made our last stop at Pinkberry. I love Pinkberry. I always forget.

On our way back to the cars we passed the spot I had left and looked at the meter... and then looked closer. Guess what people? No payment needed on Sundays. Awesome. Many a lost coin and I probably had people watching me from the cafe wondering what the heck I was doing the whole time.

Oh well, live and learn... to read signs even better.

Nevertheless, despite about $2 lost, the day was great and conversation wonderful and there were pictures taken. So, really it doesn't even matter does it? :)

xoxo

Adventure with The Brows Family!

 

 

As I've mentioned both here and here, it's been waaaaaay too long since I've hung out with this family. They are so awesome I cry a little every time I'm around them. Tears of joy and laughter that is. Seriously though, I find myself tearing up from laughing so hard several times in an hour when we all get together. It's a nutty bunch for sure.

Sunday we had an adventure day in which we took Baby Brows to The New Children's Museum. I didn't know what to expect but I figured Lil Brows (I guess we can't really call him Baby Brows any longer, look how big he is!) would have fun and I would have fun seeing what all he got in to.

First we stopped at El Pollo Loco because I was very hungry and I ordered what seemed to be a really complicated burrito (BRC no rice) which we laughed about and then went on. Lil Brows was a little sleepy but he gratefully accepted my french fries that I passed his way on the car ride.

When we arrived the first thing we did was walk through a maze. It was cute nicely decorated, and all of us fit through the holes somehow. Impressive. After some crawling around we took a look at the clay area as well as a painted car. Lil Brows didn't care for the clay or the car, but the wood dowel for rolling out the clay definitely caught his eye. He carried it around for a bit there after.

Next Unicorn Sparkle(bottom)s decided it was time for Lil Brows to play some drums. And that he did. He LOVED it. He used the drum sticks given and he also switched it up to the popsicle sticks he had borrowed and that wooden dowel. Unfortunately TNCM put the drums in the same area as a giant bean bag and a reading corner... so the other families in there weren't as stoked... we may have had some sideways glances. Here's the deal patchouli Dad*... don't blame Lil Brows or us... the museum put them in there, obviously they don't actually want you napping in their museum, they want you to explore everything and eat in their cafe and get out! So we helped with that. Move it along people, move it along.

Next we spent some serious time making bridges and other structures out of blocks that Lil Brows would leave alone until they got really good and then would give them a little push. Bless his heart.

After the blocks we moved on through the other rooms pretty quick, the rain house was Lil Brows other favorite place, he ran around in there with the other kids and we a tad upset when we took him out until we showed him something else, like the rock climbing wall. Unicorn Sparkle(bottom)s climbed it but he had no interest so away we went again to run cars without wheels around and get some bubbles going.

By the time we hit the bubbles we were all feeling a little hungry so Unicorn Sparkle(bottom)s suggested a walk to Heavenly Cupcakes... nobody said no.

The cupcakes were delicious. I only managed half of mine, there was an oreo inside as well as the chocolate cake part and the intense amount of frosting. 

We rode back to Casa de Brows and chatted while Lil Brows ran around like a little crazy person (oh cupcakes) and then it was time for me to head back north for Sunday dinner at my dad's house.

I can't believe how much Lil Brows has grown, I mean, I can but it's just crazy that I use to hang out with him before he could even walk. I saw his first crawl and his first steps! And now he's talking, running around and drumming like a little man! Goodness they grow up so fast. I can't wait for the next adventure!

xoxo

*he looked a little hippie like... I apologize to those who like patchouli

A Day in LA - Part Two: Renegade Craft Fair

Ah yes, here we are, part two! We made it to the craft fair with more than enough time to walk around and get a feel for what we might want to purchase. I must admit, Lisa (Let's Move to the West Coast) had a little more wiggle room on what she could buy, but it wasn't so bad just looking around and enjoying what I saw. It's been quite a learning process (mentally rewarding, surprisingly enough) to go places and not buy everything I want immediately. It gives me a chance to process, to pick and choose and to really love what I do purchase. 

Tangent, I'm good at those.

Back to the story...

We walk around for a little bit, we talk to some shops and I get incredibly sidetracked by one shop in particular called The Red Swing. I was first distracted from my walk by a print hanging up like the one in the last picture above. Screw cautiously, I thought, well yes, I try to tell my friends that often. Love shamelessly, well I think that's something my friends try to tell me often. Simple, perfect. 

So I looked around more. I loved the set up of the little tent shop so I browsed. Susie finished her conversation with another browser so I asked if I could take a picture of her set up. She graciously accepted and then asked what I do. If I was a photographer (I still don't consider myself that) or what. I told her about the blog and she was excited to check this little place out. Basically she was rad. So we chatted for a second, I took a couple of pictures (the ones of the school desk and then the scale) and then continued on.

After walking for a bit my shoulders became a bit hot and I wasn't exactly full from lunch, happy, but not full (oh that delicious Pier Burger). We had seen food carts when we walked in so we went back in search of something cold and sweet. I went to the coffee cart and Lisa waited in line for a popsicle. 

The coffee... sooooooooooo good. I didn't ask for decaf (I had very few hours of sleep before this adventure day) and I was a little worried what the outcome of me with coffee caffeine might be, but I said yolo* to myself and ran straight into the unknown. 

Good news: no panic attack and best of all, no horrible coffee aftertaste in my mouth. WHAT?! I have since kept myself from getting iced coffee drinks from Starbucks since because I know that gross taste will just bum me out.

From what I could tell, Lisa really enjoyed her pop though she was battle ants during the eating of it so the change of a food grade was lost.

After our time in the shade with a party of ants we continued on to see what we hadn't seen before. So much awesome artwork and some delicious tea. I almost bought some tea, but my pocketbook was limited and I was really thinking about some prints still. So after the tea we hit up the photobooth (uh duhhhh). While waiting in line I saw two girls with awesome style and while I should have asked them if I could get a picture, I just snapped one while standing there. Creeper status. One day I'll get the lady balls to just ask people. One day.

(Oh yes, just in case you are wondering, our little chalk sign said "Click.")

I've taken pictures in a Magnolia Photo Booth before at Renegade before and I remembered how well they turned out so I was quite excited for these. And let me tell you, they lived up to previous success.

Photoboothing led us back to the beginning of our tent walk to purchase the final pieces. I went and purchased from a lovely illustrator named Nan Lawson (link below) and then of COURSE I went back to The Red Swing and purchased the lovely print that stopped me in my tracks before. 

All in all, our L.A. Adventure Day was great. Fantastic. Wonderful... other descriptive words that mean radical basically. Lisa and I chatted a lot and I'm so stoked to have a new friend. I mean, she'll go on photo adventures with me! Brilliant!  

Did anyone else go to Renegade this year? Did you happen to be at the L.A. one and know what the coffee cart was called because I want it back. 

xoxo

Shops that made me swoon: The Red Swing (letterpress), T-We (tea), Strawberryluna (prints and posters), Fomato Cards (incredibly off the wall greeting cards), Let's Be Friends (paper and stitched things), Bird of Virtue (jewelry), Unicorn Crafts (cute little things), Maiden Voyage (clothing and prints), Two Tone Press (letterpress printing), Nan Lawson (illustrations), Front Porch Pops (popsicles)